Stage 2 Three-Valve Heads & Camshafts - Three's A Crowd - Three-Valve HCE

Looks a little different than a Fox/pushrod combo, huh? Instead of a lifter valley, it's just a valley, an empty space. The coolant line also looks out of place.

Now Matt begins the task of transferring the stock heads' valvetrain to the Blow-By Racing heads. Along with the Stage 2 cams, we're using Blow-By's valve springs and cam lockouts. The Stage 2 heads come with new valve seals, but otherwise, everything else from the factory heads must be transferred to the new heads. The valves must be lapped, as well. Lapping is achieved by spinning the valves on the seats to form a seal when the valve is closed. A simple suction cup on a stick is used to spin them. The valvetrain swap is a time-consuming, but necessary proposition.

Matt is almost done assembling the Blow-By head. Just one more bolt, and he'll be ready to install the heads. The Stage 2 cams and new springs, locks, and retainers are installed with their cam caps torqued to spec. He installed the timing sprockets with Blow-By's cam lockouts in place, as well. These lock the cam in either fully advanced or fully retarded position to eliminate piston-to-valve issues when using aftermarket cams like our BBR Stage 2s. The Three-Valve engine uses variable timing, but these lockouts eliminate that feature, which means the cam timing will not change.

Matt couldn't reinstall the cam covers without dressing things up a little bit. He applied a couple coats of Krylon semigloss paint to spruce them up.

With the cam covers drying, Matt gets back to the engine by installing the new Blow-By heads. Just like with a pushrod engine, line up the heads with the dowel pins, and torque the head bolts accordingly. There's a three-step torque sequence for the heads, so have your manual handy if you choose to do this swap yourself.

Matt added new guides for the timing chains even though we don't hear of too many timing chain guide failures. However, Matt figured if they were going to be in there it would be a good idea to go ahead and change them out. Matt lined up the timing marks on both the engine and the timing chains to make sure the engine will be in time.

Matt threw the front cover in the parts cleaner before reinstalling it. We used fresh gaskets throughout the reinstallation process. Notice the water pump wasn't removed for this install. Simply put, it doesn't need to be removed for a head swap.

Well, it's a good thing Matt sprayed the cam covers because they really look good under all those wiring harnesses and other fluff. Matt has also reinstalled the front accessory dress items, alternator, and radiator and cooling fan assembly. It's really starting to look like an engine again.

Though it may have only taken you a few minutes of reading to reach this caption from the one detailing Matt's initial removal of the intake, in real time, it took several hours to get to this point. Though we're far from done, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and it only resembles a train. Just kidding-keep reading.